It was a glorious day here in Los Angeles yesterday. It was clear and  bright and crisp. It felt like a perfect autumn day on the East Coast. All day long, I kept breathing the beauty of the day into my heart.

Lately, I’ve been exploring the theme of PLEASURE in my life. How can I enjoy each moment more?  How can I relax and receive? How can I appreciate the sweetness and fullness and ease of the hour?

My exploration — putting my attention on discovering something new in this area– is succeeding. The time I spend with my husband is richer and more playful. The time I spend with my family isn’t as charged with my own inner monologue: “This is all well and good, but there’s work to be done!”  I’ve even been watching Mad Men –the first TV I’ve watched consistently since ER. (Ridiculous, I know.)

Anyway, today I had a mini revelation about the connection of pleasure and beauty. The more I surround myself with beauty and am willing to see the beauty that abounds, the more my body softens into pleasure. As long as I look at the world and see duty, angularity, lists and a ticking clock, my body freezes and stands at attention and prepares to BE RESPONSIBLE and ACCOMPLISH. When, instead, I take even a moment to breathe in something beautiful and really let that beauty move over my heart, my whole body responds with receptivity.

Imagine yourself anywhere now in the immensity of nature. (I love the Redwoods). And put yourself in the center of Nature’s abundance. And breathe. And feel your body respond with awe and pleasure and willingness to let go.

Beauty begets pleasure. Attention to beauty begets luscious embodied EASE. What is beautiful in your life? Soak it in.

Feel your “to do” list change instantaneously.

Big Fat Love to you all.

Bone

1.

Understand, I am always trying to figure out

what the soul is,

and where hidden,

and what shape -

and so, last week,

when I found on the beach

the ear bone

of a pilot whale that may have died

hundreds of years ago, I thought

maybe I was close

to discovering something -

for the ear bone

2.

is the portion that lasts longest

in any of us, man or whale; shaped

like a squat spoon

with a pink scoop where

once, in the lively swimmer’s head,

it joined its two sisters

in the house of hearing,

it was only

two inches long -

and thought: the soul

might be like this -

so hard, so necessary -

3.

yet almost nothing.

Beside me

the gray sea

was opening and shutting its wave-doors,

unfolding over and over

its time-ridiculing roar;

I looked but I couldn’t see anything

through its dark-knit glare;

yet don’t we all know, the golden sand

is there at the bottom,

though our eyes have never seen it,

nor can our hands ever catch it

4.

lest we would sift it down

into fractions, and facts -

certainties -

and what the soul is, also

I believe I will never quite know.

Though I play at the edges of knowing,

truly I know

our part is not knowing,

but looking, and touching, and loving,

which is the way I walked on,

softly,

through the pale-pink morning light.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Why I Wake Early)

___________

On this rainy Los Angeles morning, these words touch me: Looking and Touching and Loving.

The words are not “Fixing and Pushing and Yearning.”  They are Looking and Touching and Loving. This is our job. Looking at what is before us – not judging, not trying to see something different, not straining. But seeing the simplicity of what is present.

Our job is touching. I touch my son’s soft blonde head, my daughter’s cheek, my husband’s hand. It’s a touch of love.

Our job is loving. Loving everything. Loving the wretchedness. Loving the weight of sadness I feel this morning. Loving the bewilderment we sometimes feel as life unfolds.

When we love, we open. We let something in. We receive it and we hold it. We don’t repress it, smash it, belittle it.

Mary Oliver is remarkable in how she offers herself to the natural world with such humility and devotion. She has no need to be anywhere but where she is with complete openness and wonder and awe.  She is my inspiration to live simply and with great gratitude–Looking and Touching and Loving.

Jupiter just entered Pisces a couple of weeks ago. Jupiter spends one full year in each sign, so the shift is significant. My experience of this shift has been a fuller bandwidth of feeling. The river within is deeper, wilder and not as easily contained.

There is tremendous compassion that pours through Pisces and Jupiter will emphasize this. I sense that the flood of Pisces feeling is actually helping to open Humanity’s heart.

We can surrender — in the best sense– to this flood of feeling. We do not need to be swept away, but we do need to allow ourselves to be MOVED– to let the water of feeling carry us to someplace new.

I’ve spent a good part of my life subtly avoiding full feeling and being proud of it. My inner monologue has often sounded something like this: “I’m good at keeping it all together. Why is everyone else such a wreck? Why waste my time feeling sorry for myself?”  Now I am experiencing the healing and relief of a soft, full belly after a torrent of tears. Now I am experiencing the full breath that moves through my body like a wave of pure pleasure.

Think of Jupiter in Pisces as The Great Rain –cleansing us, soaking us, washing away our hardness. Imagine yourself choosing to go out into a summer down pour. Turn your face towards the sky. Taste the rain on your face. Feel your clothing heavy against your skin. And let go.

My friends. Welcome to Radiant Life!

I want to begin, as I often begin, with a poem:

Leo Rules the Heart

You told me your heart pounded for hours

That morning you locked eyes

With the mountain lion outside your door,

Startled,

A sheet of glass

Between you and the indifferent gaze

Of unspeakable fierceness in repose;

The predatory slash of weighty paw;

The liquid role of majestic shoulders as she padded off

Back to her home.

But it was not fear–

No, no terror of some childhood nightmare-beast

Awakened in your heart that morning.

Rather, that morning

Was as the morning of your birth,

When another lion peered at you over the horizon

And bequeathed you her fire as your birthright,

Touching the wildness inside you, her own kin

Warming you as the sun

And pounding

Pounding in your heart.

My husband, Andrew Heffernan (http://www NULL.malepatternfitness NULL.com), wrote that poem for me about 9 years ago.

And I still feel its gift.

Most of you know, I am an astrologer! This poem speaks to the rising aspect of my self — LEO at my ascendant.

And this website is devoted to Leo’s radiance. It is devoted to encouraging that radiance in all of us.

I am an astrologer, writer, mover, director, teacher and lover of poetry.

It’s my commitment to bring astrology to life through our bodies, voices and pens. And it’s my commitment to continue to work in wonderful circles of women and men, using astrology as a tool, to find the courage to be radiant in all walks of our lives.

RADIANCE is a word that has always spoken to me. In fact, the very first workshop I taught over 15 years ago was called: Risk, Radiance and Relationship.

I’m passionate about daring– taking the risks we need to take to shine forth.  I’m passionate about the brilliance and courage of the heart. And I’m  passionate about learning how to dance in the most profound intimacy with another.

This blog will be devoted to the expression of the heart.

Courage will be my companion.

Astrology will be my language.

Intimacy will be my inspiration.

And poetry will be my guide.

I’m so happy you are along for the ride.